Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—On Friday, November 6, Venezuelan officials reopened Washington Square in Caracas, as Acting President Delcy Rodríguez joined a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of US independence.
The event, along with acting president’s participation, prompted criticism from Chavista commentators, who questioned the tribute to George Washington amid decades of US intervention against Venezuela and the January 3 US military attack that led to the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.
The ceremony had originally been scheduled for July 4 but was postponed after the June 24 double earthquake heavily struck La Guaira state and Caracas.
Reactions
Anti-imperialist outlet Venezuelanalysis criticized the display of US flags and the government rhethoric. “The disgusting proliferation of US flags. Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez reinaugurated George Washington Plaza in Caracas (in the middle-class sector of El Paraíso), dropping some celebratory mumbo-jumbo about Washington and how he’s an inspiration,” it wrote.
“And it gets worse, giving US flags to kids to complete the neocolonial indoctrination. If they are too young to play with matches, they are also too young to be exposed to ‘peace diplomacy’ nonsense,” the outlet added.
Other Chavista voices argued that the criticism should also account for the coercive conditions facing Venezuela after the US military aggression, which threatened the country and its political leadership. They described the ceremony as taking place under pressure from a power that had recently bombed Venezuela and kidnapped its president and first lady.
Far-right influencer Eduardo Menoni used the ceremony to attack Chavismo and encourage divisions within the movement. “Chavista humiliation: Delcy Rodríguez paid homage to the US anthem and flag at the reopening of Washington Square…,” he wrote.
The ceremony and the plaza’s restoration
Rodríguez attended alongside Economy and Finance Minister Anabel Pereira Rivas, Economy Vice President Calixto Ortega, Public Works Minister Juan José Ramírez, First Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Pimentel, and Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez.
The US delegation included embassy Chargé d’Affaires John Barrett; Luis Méndez, assistant secretary for South America at the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; James C. O’Brien, senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Office of International Finance; Andrew Rapp, acting assistant secretary at the Department of Energy; and Juan Pablo Varela, senior adviser at the Office of the Secretary of Energy.
Washington Square, inaugurated in the mid-20th century, is a public gathering place in Caracas and contains a statue of George Washington. Its diminished prominence during Chavismo has been associated with the deterioration of relations caused by US imperialist actions against Venezuelans.
On October 12, Baruta municipality held a ceremony to reopen Plaza Lincoln in the Bello Monte neighborhood. The event was led by US Chargé d’Affaires Barrett and Baruta Mayor Darwin González. Local media reported that a public-space restoration plan also included work on Washington Square, leading some to believe the US Embassy had carried out the renovation. EFE reported that the Venezuelan Ministry for Public Works oversaw the restoration.
The project involved multidisciplinary teams and the renovation of more than 2,400 square meters. The central sculpture, which dates to the 19th century, was also restored.
Rodríguez said the reopening recognized the historical ties between Venezuela and the United States, which mark 191 years of diplomatic relations in 2026. “This reopening of the plaza, a tribute to a leader of independence, a founding father, the first president of the United States, George Washington, is a heartfelt tribute to his leadership, a heartfelt tribute to the historical legacy he left for the United States,” she said.
She noted that new generations should learn about Venezuela’s independence heroes and “recognize the heroes of other nations.” “Simón Bolívar, in his independence and emancipation struggle, also saw a path for the peoples of our America to become independent and sovereign peoples,” she added.
Rodríguez congratulated the US people on the anniversary and reiterated the value of recognizing other nations’ historical figures. “We join in the jubilation of the United States for its 250 years of independence, but also in paying tribute to a founding father like President George Washington,” she said.
Barrett compared Washington and Bolívar, saying: “We should look with pride upon that statue of George Washington, who was our liberator, our leader, very similar to Simón Bolívar.” He also recalled that US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum took part in a ceremony in May to reopen the Simón Bolívar Square in Washington, DC, after its renovation.
The comparison drew criticism from Chavista researcher William Serafino, who cited Washington’s role in the colonial war against Indigenous nations. “They were so alike that look at what the Founding Father said in 1779, in a letter to Major General Sullivan, in the context of the war of colonial expropriation of Indigenous lands (Seneca, Cayuga, and other tribes) that he personally led: ‘The immediate objectives are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners as possible of all ages and sexes. It will be essential to ruin their current crops and prevent them from planting more… I would recommend that some post in the center of the Indian Country should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provision, whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun but destroyed.’ The similarity between a white settler who massacred Indigenous people and our Liberator is obvious,” he wrote on social media.
Other commentators challenged the comparison by pointing to Bolívar’s antislavery commitments, his emancipation of the enslaved people he inherited—as sole heir of the richest family in the colonial Venezuela—and the poverty in which he died. They contrasted this with Washington’s ownership of enslaved people and his death as a wealthy landowner.
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Embassy reception
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez also attended a formal reception organized by the US Embassy as part of the independence celebrations on Thursday night. He said he had accepted an invitation from Chargé d’Affaires Barrett and expressed support for maintaining cooperation between the two countries.
“The close ties of cooperation between our governments are a fundamental tool for the stability and prosperity of all our people,” Rodríguez wrote.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
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